


Mixed Magics

by Shatterpath



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Implied Femslash, Magical Accidents, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 20:44:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An accident brings the odd little family of Emma and the Mills closer. And Ruby gets to be awesome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mixed Magics

**Author's Note:**

> Category: Once Upon a Time. A hint of SwanQueen if you look for it.
> 
> Date: begun 1-21-14, finished 1-24.
> 
> Spoilers: Only indirectly. References to Emma and Regina mixing magics.
> 
> Notes: Written for Once Upon a Land challenge, 'Cap Claim'. The mod gave me 5 captions from the show and I had to piece them together into a tale. Oddly, I struggled with this one, which I thought would play to my strengths (and eventually did). I had trouble in not seeing the canon events in the caps and instead, putting my spin on them. But I figured it out!  
> My Caps:  
> http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/viviantanner/35406580/7435/7435_original.jpg  
> http://i.imgur.com/fUZlaj4.png  
> http://i.imgur.com/bR9hrtk.jpg  
> http://i.imgur.com/1sfiRCQ.jpg  
> http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/abyss_valkyrie/33639636/6263/6263_original.jpg  
> And as a note, the shot of the Mills' house? In my tale discount the little figures on the porch.

It only took a moment.

One careless moment.

Not matter that Emma could not have known, could not have guessed, could not have prepared.

Jovial, happy to be back with her loved ones, she had not called ahead, having moved past those sorts of formalities, instead, she just crept into the big white house on Mifflin Street, determined to surprise Regina.

She'd startled at the nimbus of magic trapped between the smaller woman's strong hands, pulsing and writing like a trapped bird. Had she made a sound? Some harsh intake of breath? An incoherent word? A demand for explanation? Or had it merely been the movement of her lanky body in the stillness of the empty house?

No matter, because their eyes met, mutually startled, for just a suspended, brief moment, the connection they had felt before when sharing magics...

And everything exploded.

Thrown like a rag dog, Emma crashed into the wall behind her, only stopped by the big house's solid construction, breath driven violently from her lungs. Wheezing and winded, she gasped for air, choking on the lingering dust and... and smoke. Fear burned through the pain and bruised lungs, sheer willpower bringing Emma to stumbling feet, whispering Regina's name.

Then whispering it more strongly, terrified to see only whirling smoke in the living room where the other woman had stood.

The calling out that name again and again, growing ever more desperate. But it was no use, the house was empty.

*

"Hey Em," Ruby called out, knowing the sheriff by the blur of her in the corner of very sensitive eyes, but taking a moment to finish up with her customer. But the smile dropped instantly at the sheer, incoherent panic on her friend's face. "What's wrong?"

Emma just mouthed silently beneath the curious and alarmed stares of the diner patrons until Ruby scampered over and grabbed her upper arms.

"Emma!" she barked and it finally snapped the blonde at least partially back to herself.

"Regina’s gone! Was there and bang! Gone! I have to find her!"

The crying rant was half-incoherent, but Ruby understood well enough. Even as she herded Emma back onto the street, she called over her shoulder. "Marco! Call Granny and tell her we have an emergency. I'll be back as soon as I can."

It took hours of frustration and Emma's harsh breathing at her side for Ruby to finally pick up the scent. The woman's familiar warm smell, tart and faintly sweet with a dark, smoky tang wrapped around it. As distinctive as her facial features, the lines and whorls on her fingertips. Without a word, the wolf-woman sprinted off, Emma scrabbling to catch up, straight out to the waterfront.

The tide was already halfway up Regina's legs and climbing.

"Why the hell did she poof to this spot?" Ruby wondered out loud, not expecting an answer as she leapt down to the stinking, rocky shore where Regina's unconscious body was sprawled out halfway beneath the heavy fishing dock above. "Emma! Stay up there, I've got her. Call an ambulance though, she's out cold and covered in soot. Tell them to bring the rescue basket so that we don't potentially jostle any hidden injuries."

She deliberately neglected to mention the faint smears of blood she could smell more than see.

*

"She is regaining her strength now," the Mother Superior spoke quietly as she passed her glowing wand over Regina's still form. "I cannot imagine what happened to leave her so... jumbled."

It was not the word she was looking for, her expression said as much, but it was the best she could do. Emma nodded miserably, echoed by Henry who was draped over her back in a sloppy hug.

"I think it was me," Emma said quietly, her chin propped on her crossed arms where she straddled her chair backwards. "There was this surge of magic when I walked into the house, like I accidentally amped her up like crazy. Wouldn't be the first time."

"No, it wouldn't," Regina rasped hoarsely and all eyes snapped to the bed. Dark eyes fluttered open and Emma nearly tripped over herself and Henry to get over to the bed.

"Oh god, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't..."

Her ranting trailed off as an elegant hand patted her cheek, pressing the thumb over Emma's rambling mouth.

"Shh. I know. We'll have to work on that linking up we seem to keep doing. Oh, Henry, sweetie, come here. I'm all right. Just a little shook up, that's all."

With Henry sandwiched to her side and Emma pressed against his back where she knelt beside the bed, the odd little family took strength in one another once more.


End file.
